Echoes of the Past
by Trinity563
Summary: X5-455 has escaped from a Manticore facility and it is up to the group in Seattle to keep her safe
1. Prologue

The sound of pounding feet resounded in the damp forest. The towering evergreens were the only witness to what was transpiring on the forest floor. With blinding speed a lone X-5 ran through the forest, trying to stay ahead of her pursuers. Her urban colored BDU pants and gray t-shirt were quickly becoming damp, not from sweat, but from the thick layer of fog clinging to ground.  
  
Suddenly she stopped, her lungs barely needing extra oxygen after her sprint. The sound of rumbling Humvees and the whirl of a helicopter assaulted her finely tuned hearing. Her pursuers were closing in, but she had decided that she would rather die than go back, so she turned and began running again. Her acute eyesight could barely make out a fence three- quarters of a mile ahead. She quickened her speed, knowing that as soon as she made it over it would be harder for them to catch her.  
  
Her light brown hair streamed behind her, while her light skinned arms and legs pumped as fast as they could. Her chocolate brown eyes were dancing with barely controlled excitement, and her lips were upturned in the slightest of smiles.  
  
A Humvee crashed through the underbrush, sending her dodging to the left. Bullets began to pepper her vicinity, and she was nicked in the arm. Barely noticing the pain, her booted feet kept pounding the floor, determined not to give up. She was coming up on the fence but noticed something peculiar. She began smiling again, and for a brief second turned around and faced her pursuers. Then, she jumped as far as she could, knowing that through the fog, the Humvee didn't stand a chance. She sailed over the edge of twenty- five foot cliff and heard the squealing of brakes just before she landed on the ground. She turned around and saw the black vehicle as it nose-dived over the edge and landed with a crunching thud. It flipped over onto the top, and landed on a rock, smashing in the hood before shook one last time and settled to the ground like a defeated monster.  
  
The X-5 turned and ran the remaining feet to the chain link fence and jumped it with ease. She continued running, sticking to the woods because the helicopter loomed dangerously close. When finally the whine of blades faded she allowed herself to slow to a walk. She looked around and smiled, X-5 455 allowed herself her first breath of freedom. 


	2. 455

Eight weeks later  
  
Two pool balls collided with a crack, the eight ball rolling directly into the corner pocket. With a smug look on his face Alec straightened and looked over at a distraught Sketchy.  
  
"Pay up," he said, arm outstretched and palm open.  
  
"You wound me Alec," Sketchy said. "I thought we were playing for fun."  
  
"You're the one that started the bet, now fork it over."  
  
Sketchy grumbled and reached into his pocket for the cash. He pulled out a small wad of bills and placed them in Alec open hand. Alec heard Max's cell phone go off and glanced over in her direction.  
  
She and Original Cindy were sitting at the table near the end of the pool table, talking over the music playing in the bar where the four of them would hang out after work everyday. Max picked up the phone and looked to see who it was. Alec and Sketchy walked over to the table and sat down, finishing off their beers.  
  
"Yeah," she said into the phone. Then nothing. "I'm at Crash. Why?" Nothing. "Yeah, he's here too." She said, looking over at Alec.  
  
Inwardly Alec groaned. He knew it was Logan, and he knew they had another job that he needed done. He set down the glass when OC shoved him.  
  
"What?" he said, but her only response was to roll her eyes.  
  
"Yeah, we'll be there," Max said, and closed her phone. Then turning to Alec she said, "Logan needs us at his apartment."  
  
"I figured as much," Alec responded.  
  
"We'll see you later," Max said to OC and Sketchy.  
  
"Sure thing, Boo," OC said, waving her off. Sketchy however looked devastated.  
  
"But I didn't get a chance to win my money back," he said, nearly whining.  
  
Standing up, Alec leaned forward and smiled. "I wasn't going to give you a chance." Leaving behind their friends, the pair of X-5's walked out the door and into the rain.  
  
At Logan's apartment, Logan, Max and Alec were all crowded around his computer screen.  
  
"See that," Logan asked, pointing to the picture on the screen. He had paused the security tape and zoomed in.  
  
"Yeah," Max said, slightly leaning in. "I don't recognize it. Do you Alec?"  
  
"X5-455? That barcode looks slightly familiar, but not really."  
  
"What concerns me is that she is being so careless about it." Logan said, letting the tape progress. She disappeared and moments later she was leaving with a long tube attached to her back. She looked up at the camera, smiled and winked, then ran off the screen again. Logan rewound the tape and paused it when it showed her face.  
  
Alec looked at the tape but could not remember anything that would clue him to who she was. He was staring at a tall, slender woman, slightly younger than he and Max. She had long light colored hair, pulled up in a ponytail, which allowed her barcode to be seen clearly when she was walking away from the camera. He couldn't tell what color her eyes were because the tape was in black and white. Since they were dark, he assumed they were brown. She was clad entirely in black, including the pack on her back with the long tube. There was something odd though, about they way she allowed herself to be seen on the security camera, but only this particular one. Logan said he had checked all the others and she was not on any of them.  
  
"What did you say that she took?" Max said, looking at Logan.  
  
"One of the paintings on display. The strange thing is, is that it was advertised in the paper the day before that it was moving to this particular museum. What I need you two to do is head over to the museum, because yesterday there was an article in one of the local art magazines about a new painting being brought in to replace the one that was stolen.  
  
"She won't be that stupid." Alec snorted. "Obviously someone would be waiting for her."  
  
"I told the police about my theory but they said it was a fluke, so it's up to us now. I need you two to bring her back here, so we can figure out why she's so careless." Logan said, turning around to face Max and Alec.  
  
"I doubt she'll show, but we'll give it a try." Max said and strolled out of the room, Alec close on her heels.  
  
After nearly an hour of waiting Max was getting bored. This is such a waste of time. She thought. Upon reaching the museum, Max and Alec decided that they should split up in case she went in a way they were not covering. In her mind's eye she could see Alec sauntering around in the dark, checking out each painting and what he could get for it. She couldn't completely blame him because she saw a couple paintings she wouldn't mind taking. Before entering, Logan, back at his apartment, had assured her that he had disabled all of the security cameras so they were free and clear.  
  
Alec had decided that since he was at the museum he might as well take a look around. He was slowly walking around his section of the museum when he saw something drop from the glassed ceiling. Focusing his eyesight he saw a rope dangling from the middle of the large and ornate main room. Slipping behind a statue he saw a figure stealthily descend to the floor. He saw the figure move to the painting that was the newest addition and pull out two halves of a tube and set them on the floor. When she was just about to clip the security wires behind the painting Alec stepped out from behind the statue.  
  
"Nice painting don't you think?" he said, startling the woman.  
  
Max heard Alec's voice and quickly headed in his direction.  
  
Quickly recovering she turned around and put her hands on her hips. She was in all black just like before, except this time her head was adorned with a black watch cap, allowing her hair to cover the back of her neck.  
  
"I thought I took care of all of you guards last time." She said, shaking her head. "I'll give you a chance to leave if you don't want to get hurt."  
  
"I'm not a guard," he said, stepping closer to her.  
  
She shook her head again, but this time smiled. "That's too bad, you should be getting paid for the beating you're about to receive."  
  
"No, I-" Alec began, but was interrupted with a punch in the face. He stepped back and grinned. "Well if that's how you want to play it, fine by me." And he ducked when she went for his face again, and kicked out his leg, catching her legs and sending her crashing to the marble floor. She quickly jumped back up, faced Alec and kicked him in the stomach, but Alec grabbed her leg and pushed up. She back flipped and landed on her feet. He saw recognition in her eyes and she stepped back.  
  
"Who are you," she said, suddenly wary. "I won't go back."  
  
Max stepped out from the shadows and looked at Alec. "That was a nice show you two put on."  
  
"Why didn't you help?" Alec asked, looking at Max.  
  
"Because you seemed to have it under control." She responded.  
  
"What's going on? Who are you? What are you doing here?" The woman said, stepping away from Max and Alec.  
  
"Hey, I'm Max, this is Alec." Max said, walking over next to Alec.  
  
"You have names?" the woman said.  
  
"Well, yeah, we kind of have to. Since we are trying to blend in, just like you should." Max said, a little bewildered.  
  
"What do you mean blend in, you aren't here to take me back?" she said, slowly relaxing.  
  
"Back where? Manticore? Where have you been, there's nothing to go back to." Alec said, raising one eyebrow.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, since it blew up and all it would be kind of hard to take you back. Besides who would want to go back to that hell hole?" Max said.  
  
"Wait, how long have you been out? What is your designation?" she said.  
  
"For a while now, I was X5-452." Max said.  
  
"X5-494" Alec said, hoping the woman would catch on soon.  
  
"452, 494? I don't know any X-5's with those designations."  
  
"Where did you come from?" Alec said, sighing and shifting his weight from one foot to another.  
  
"East, that's all I know. I'm not exactly sure where. I only got out eight weeks ago." She said.  
  
For a brief second Alec saw sadness sweep across her face and then it was gone. "Do you have a name?" he said, trying to speed things up.  
  
"Oh, sorry, I'm 455, err Riley."  
  
"Great," he said, then turning to Max said, "Can we get out of here?"  
  
Shoving Alec, Max ignored his comment and smiled. "Nice to meet you Riley, what do you say we get out of here?"  
  
"Finally," Alec mumbled.  
  
"A friend of mine wants to talk to you first but then you can go back home." Max said.  
  
"Home?" Riley said.  
  
"Yeah, you know, a place to stay. You do have a place to stay don't you?" Max said.  
  
"No, not unless you count behind the dumpster next to a place called 'Crash.'" She said.  
  
"You can stay with Alec for now," Max said, with a devilish grin.  
  
"Um, Max, can I talk to you for a sec?" Alec said, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from Riley. "She can't stay at my place!"  
  
Max looked up innocently at him. "Where else is she going to stay?"  
  
"Why not with you?"  
  
"I can't with me and OC our place is already bursting at the seams. And no, Logan can't take her either, not with his whole secret and everything." She said, pointing at her eyes.  
  
"Fine, but only for a little while."  
  
Max shrugged and smirked saying, "Whatever you say Alec."  
  
"Hey, Riley, get your stuff, we're leaving."  
  
"Where?" she asked.  
  
"You'll figure it out when we get there." Alec said and walked off, leaving Max and Riley behind. 


	3. TK

"Wait a second, you're telling me that Manticore blew up, and all the transgenics inside escaped?" Riley said, seated on Logan's couch, staring in disbelief at Logan, who had just told her why Max and Alec were even there.  
  
"Believe it," Max said, sitting on the arm of Logan's couch.  
  
Riley shook her head at the notion of hundreds of transgenics free, just like her. She looked from Max to Alec and then at Logan. "How do you fit in?" she asked him.  
  
"Well, I originally helped Max try and find her brothers and sisters, and I sorta stuck around." He responded looking over at Max.  
  
Alec, who had been pacing back and forth walked into the room and looked like he was about to say something and then stopped, leaving again and continued pacing.  
  
"What's his problem?" Riley asked Max.  
  
"He was born that way, nothing to worry about." She said. Logan grunted in agreement and looked at Riley.  
  
"So what's your story? Why were you at a different location than the others?" he said. When Alec heard the question he returned to the room and waited.  
  
Lowering her head, Riley started to speak. "I was actually never supposed to be moved to a different location. I was supposed to stay at the location you were just talking about, but something happened to me. For the first few years of my life I was there, with you two, I think." She said, glancing up at Alec and then Max, the returning her gaze to the floor.  
  
"What happened?" Max prodded.  
  
"They discovered an anomaly in my brain."  
  
"What kind of anomaly?" Logan asked.  
  
"I use more of my brain than I should, giving me a unique ability." Riley took off her jacket and sighed. Her short sleeve black shirt fit snuggly against her body, and a wide leather band was latched to her wrist. She took off the bracelet and started at what was underneath it. "I have the capability to move things with my mind. It was something they never intended to happen but then I came along, and more like me. They had me tattooed with this." She said and held up her wrist for the three stunned observers to see. Two letters were on her arm, 'TK.'  
  
"What does that stand for?" Max asked.  
  
"Telekinetic," she said, putting back on the wristband. She stood up and walked over to the window. She stared out the window gazing at the lighted streets and rundown buildings. After a while she started talking again. "It was so the guards would know what they were dealing with.  
  
"So you can move things just by thinking it?" Alec said, staring at her in disbelief.  
  
"What you want a demonstration?" Riley said irritably, looking over at him.  
  
"Well, yeah," he said. "Prove to me that really can."  
  
"Fine," she said and started looking around the room.  
  
"Riley, you don't have to-" Max started but when Riley held up one of her hands that silenced her.  
  
"He wants proof, he'll get proof. I'm sure the two of you would like a demonstration as well." She responded bitterly. Putting down her hand, she continued to look around. Suddenly she held up her hand and a small object went flying to her hand. She grabbed it and held it out for them to see. A metal pen that had been lying in front of Logan's was now in Riley's hand. Tossing it to Alec she glared at him. "Is that proof enough for you?" She walked back to the couch, grabbed her jacket and backpack and headed to the elevator. "I'm outta here."  
  
"Yeah, I-" Alec said as she whisked by him.  
  
Max and Logan glared at Alec who still couldn't believe that he was holding the pen.  
  
"What?" he said at the pair.  
  
Max rolled her eyes at him. "Go apologize, she can't leave yet. We still have more questions," she said.  
  
"Why, we'll know where she'll be," he said.  
  
"Alec, just go apologize," Logan said.  
  
"Fine," he said and got up and headed toward the waiting Riley. "Riley I'm sorry." She whirled around and held up a finger, pointing at him and suddenly he couldn't move anymore.  
  
"Don't move," she said.  
  
"Uh, guys," Alec called over his shoulder. Max and Logan came rushing to see what was wrong.  
  
"What is it?" Logan said, glancing between Alec and Riley.  
  
"I can't move," Alec said.  
  
"What do you mean you can't move," Max said, crossing her arms.  
  
"Let me explain something," Riley began. "I can make things move, but I can also stop them from moving. For example, Alec here, he was waling towards me and I simply made his legs stop working. Simple as that."  
  
"I just wanted to apologize," Alec said, silently pleading to be let go.  
  
"Cute," Riley said. Max and Logan looked at each other and left the room. "Unexpected, but cute."  
  
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you Riley, and I'm sorry for being rude." Alec said.  
  
Riley smirked and lowered her arm. Alec slightly twitched and then stepped towards her. "Be still my heart, an X5 apologizing." Riley said, placing her hand over her heart.  
  
"Thank you for letting me go. Will you please stay? We have some more questions."  
  
"I guess," she said, setting her bag and jacket on the floor, and walked back into the living room with Alec. 


	4. Side effects

Riley sat back down on the couch, but this time Alec sat down next to her instead of pacing back and forth in the other room. Max sat on the other side of Riley, and Logan was seated directly in front of her.  
  
"You think you can answer more questions?" Logan asked Riley. When she shrugged and leaned back he continued. "Are there other kinds of transgenics there, with your abilities?"  
  
"All together there are about fifty of us, and we are all X-5s. My age group is the oldest though. In the fifth year of producing X-5s things started to mutate in our brains which allowed us to do what we do. At first there were only five of us, each with different abilities. I of course, am telekinetic, and there was one with telepathy, another that was empathic, another with the ability to see through solid objects, and finally one that could walk through solid objects." Riley chuckled and continued. "You should have seen her on the obstacle course when she couldn't control her ability. She would always fall through the ceiling or right through that bridge. She hated it when she fell through the bridge because she always got soaked."  
  
"That must have made training fun." Alec said.  
  
"We got punished several times for her accidents until I learned to hold her up when she fell. She finally got the hang of it though." She responded.  
  
"Any strange side effects?" Logan asked.  
  
"Side effects? We were the side effects! But I'm sure that's not what you meant." Riley said, and smiled when she saw Logan shaking his head. "There was one weird thing, the telepath, X5-469, he was never able to use his abilities on me, or any of the other telepaths that showed up later. It was really weird. Manticore tested him and us to see what was wrong but they could never figure it out. They way I figure it, our brains were messed up to bad for him to make it work the way he wanted it to. For the others though, he could read and manipulate their thoughts just fine.  
  
"Manticore tried duplicating our abilities with numerous experiments but all the kids they grew died. They never figured out what went wrong in our heads, but X-5s with the same abilities kept rolling into the center and we adapted. It was as simple as that. I got fed up with Manticore and ran away; end of story."  
  
Max looked at Riley and saw a wave a sadness sweep across her face when she said the last sentence, but decided it was just her imagination. When she looked over at Alec though, she noticed that he had seen it too. They both looked at each other quizzically, but shrugged it off.  
  
"Do you have anything to eat around here? I haven't eaten in a while and I could really use some food." Riley said, breaking the momentary silence. Logan snapped out of his reverie and looked at her.  
  
"Sure, you can have anything in the refrigerator," he said.  
  
"Thanks," Riley responded and got up to raid the refrigerator.  
  
"So, what do you think of all that?" Alec asked Max and Logan once Riley had left.  
  
"I think Manticore is even more twisted than I thought," Max said in disgust. "I didn't realize it could get any worse than it already was."  
  
"Its really quite incredible if you think about it," Logan said, only half paying attention to the conversation going on around him.  
  
"We're going to have to get her a bike so she can work at Jampony. It would be best if she could start tomorrow." Max told Alec.  
  
"I think I know where I can get one, when she's ready to go, we'll drop her stuff off at my place and then we can go get her a bike. Normal will be happy to get another messenger." He said.  
  
"He's always looking for fresh meat." Max responded, looking aver to where Riley was.  
  
"Hey, Riley," Alec said, turning around so he could see her.  
  
"Yeah," she responded, her response slightly muffled since her head was inside the refrigerator.  
  
"Why did you get out alone? Why not get others out too?" he said. He saw her back stiffen, and she slowly straightened.  
  
Without turning around she said, "No one else wanted to come." She then turned around and faced the threesome. "Can you please stop with the questions?"  
  
Max opened her mouth to respond but Logan beat her too it.  
  
"Sure, go ahead and eat, and then you and Alec are going to go get a bike so you can get a job."  
  
"What kind of job?" she asked.  
  
"A crappy one," Alec said. "But its money, and you get a sector pass."  
  
"What would I be doing?"  
  
"You take packages all over the city." Max said.  
  
"Sounds exciting. At least I'll get a sector pass out of it." Riley said, in between bites of food. "Oh, off the subject, but do you two get cold?" she asked Max and Alec.  
  
"What do you mean cold?" Max responded.  
  
"You know, a side effect from being genetically engineered?" Riley said, glancing between the two.  
  
"No, I did have seizers until they fixed it, but I don't get cold." Max said.  
  
"Oh, okay." Riley said, turning back to her mountain of food.  
  
"Why do you ask?" Logan said.  
  
"I was just wondering, because I do. It must be some freakish thing that has to do with my brain being all screwed up." Riley responded.  
  
"What happens?" he said.  
  
"In interrogation training, when they use a sedative or truth serum, anything that doesn't originally belong in my system, I get cold. To keep the chemical from spreading my blood slows down and retreats to the center of my body, and purges itself. Its weird, and I hate it when it happens, but a fat dose of sedative has only brought me down once because of it, and even then it was only for five minutes. I hate getting cold though. I can't stop shivering when I do. It drives me nuts. The larger the dose, the colder I get." She said.  
  
"I would consider that a side effect of your abilities." Logan said. "That's incredible though."  
  
"So you can't get drunk?" Alec said. Max looked over at him in disbelief and rolled her eyes, but Riley just laughed.  
  
"I don't know. I haven't taken the time to try since I got out. I would tend to think not though." Riley said. "It's almost sunrise, do you think we should see about scoring me a bike?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. You ready to go?" Alec said.  
  
"Yeah," Riley said. "Thanks for the food Logan"  
  
"Sure thing," he said, getting up and following Max and Alec to the door.  
  
"I'll see you later Max," Riley said, and she grabbed her pack and left with Alec. 


End file.
